Jamie Varner‘s technical split-decision over Donald Cerrone at WEC 38 counted as a win on his record, but it sure didn’t feel like one. Varner left the cage that night with a broken hand, a broken foot, impaired vision from the illegal knee that ended the match, and heaps of abuse from fans who thought he should have sacked up and finished out the last three minutes of the fight, which he was leading on the scorecards. Five months later, Varner is still feeling the after-effects of that brutal five-rounder. Last week, he Twittered the disappointing news that his hand is still fractured, and with no return date in sight, reports began emerging that his cowboy-hat-wearing nemesis and Benson Henderson would fight for an interim lightweight title. And then, things got even worse.

Buried in an article on Vindy.com published late last night, WEC general manager Reed Harris dropped the bombshell that Varner "may never fight again," and the WEC "plans to strip the lightweight title shortly" from Varner. Oddly, this contradicts Harris’s own words on his WEC.tv blog, in which he says that Cerrone and Henderson will simply be fighting for an interim belt, and only says that Varner is out "indefinitely." At any rate, the two lightweight contenders will headline WEC 43 on September 2 in Youngstown, Ohio. Cerrone (10-1, 1 NC) is coming off a first-round submission victory over James Krause at WEC 41 earlier this month, while Henderson (9-1) picked up his second win in the WEC in April with his first-round TKO of Shane Roller.

We’re not sure if the Vindy report is the result of a misunderstanding, or info that leaked before it was supposed to — we’ll update you with any major developments.

[D]espite recent reports, injured champion Jamie Varner will not be stripped of his WEC lightweight title…A number of reports, citing a Youngstown Vindicator story, stated Varner would be stripped of his belt and that it would then be contested by Cerrone and Henderson…

Harris said his comments were taken a bit out of context and that Varner will be stripped of the belt only if his injuries prevent him from returning to the cage – something that won’t be known for quite some time…Although hopeful he could return for WEC 43 to fight Cerrone again, Varner has publicly stated that his hand did not heal correctly and that it’ll keep him sidelined through the summer.

"Jamie is not stripped of the title," Harris said. "We’re all hoping Jamie can come back later this year and defend his title against whoever wins the interim title. We just couldn’t put the division on hold. We had to move it forward."

Cagepotato Comments

Showing 1-25 of comments

Ah ok, I know there was a fight where the guy got hit in the shoulder but still tried to play it off as if he were hit in the head.

Sjsurf- June 30, 2009 at 10:25 pm

Uncle Tim is going to be pissed.

averagejoe- June 30, 2009 at 10:08 pm

Ok, I know we get excited on here sometimes, and no one has those UG style green names so you can't tell who is actually a fighter (I'm not, FYI), don't call out a WEC champ who fought several rounds with a broken hand and a broken foot, then got illegal kneed to the dome and had his retina detached. And if you think you're super tough, you would have taken that knee, look at the pics of the side of his head post-fight, with a grapefruit sized bruise (no, molky, that was a different fight where the guy got hit in the shoulder).

pe-ace.

JiMMA- June 30, 2009 at 7:46 pm

Cowboy should be and will be the title holder very shortly.

I also see this kid moving up in ranks to the UFC within a years time.

There is a certain toughness and tenacity about Cerrone that makes him very amusing to watch preform.

Why does ZUFFA have a LW pool in the WEC anyways?

831 Son- June 30, 2009 at 5:30 pm

Nice. Nevermind then. Good to watch that fight again though anyway because Diego fucking whooped Guida.

molky brothers- June 30, 2009 at 3:17 pm

This is off topic but...

I'm not a fan of Guida at all but he's more of a fighter than Varner will ever be...

Polish- June 30, 2009 at 3:09 pm

@ 831 Son

Please feel free to watch the fight again, as you are incorrect. At 4:38 remaining in Round 1 Joe Rogan yells "Guida lost his mouthpiece" and at 2:11 left in the round the fight is stopped so he can put it back in. That is over two minutes.

molky brothers- June 30, 2009 at 2:31 pm

Is this the fight, where it was clear on the replay, that the knee clearly hit him in the shoulder not the head? I'm like a lot of the others and don't like Varner. I saw the Cowboy on Tapout, when they used to do a TV show and got a lot of respect for him and then finally caught some of his fights on WEC via VS. I hope they do get to fight so the Cowboy can destroy him.

831 Son- June 30, 2009 at 2:09 pm

Uhh Polish, Clay Guida fought without his mouthpiece for like 15 seconds. Probably even less.

Polish- June 30, 2009 at 1:28 pm

I still don't like him for the losing the mouth piece and calling timeout during the fight with Razor Rob. Clay Guida lost his recently in the fight with Diego and fought the next couple minutes without it and didn't say a word. Varner lost his and called timeout like it's a fucking Basketball game. Plus I thought Cerrone was kicking his ass in their fight and he should be holding the belt, after all who is fighting now and who isn't. That should be a pretty clear indicator to me who won. And the *illegal knee* was really not, Varners knee was OFF THE GROUND as Cerrone began the knee and as the knee landed Varners knee hit the ground. That is Donald's belt.

Just A Wrestler- June 30, 2009 at 1:17 pm

jamie varner reminds me of my roomate freshan year in college. i hated that kid

Cookie Monster- June 30, 2009 at 1:08 pm

cerrone is a beast..twitter is for women jaime. stay at home, you know you're scared of the cowboy.

CJvsCP- June 30, 2009 at 12:58 pm

MY hands broken but I can twitter all damn day..............gay. If your well enough to twitter your well enough to fight!

MyFightWiffaCheeto- June 30, 2009 at 12:33 pm

and I can't wait for him to do it again Nut Puncher 9000... Fuck Jamie Varner and his hand. I hope Cerrone fucking kills him when they fight in 2010... if it happens.

NECROPHYTE- June 30, 2009 at 12:31 pm

lmfao @ "Varner's douchebag license automatically renewed itself."

Chri534.- June 30, 2009 at 12:27 pm

The end of that fight reminded me when I was a kid and tried convincing my parents that I was too sick to go to school...I mean I totally want to go...but I'm, just, too, siiiick.

TheNastyBoy- June 30, 2009 at 12:26 pm

Man, why is everyone digging on Jamie? I think the man would have had less severe injuries if he had been in a car accident. It's not like it's his fault that they wont let him fight.

Nut Puncher 9000- June 30, 2009 at 12:24 pm

Cerrone broke Varner...Completely.

Fedor vs. Bas- June 30, 2009 at 12:15 pm

Did that illegal knee even hit Varner? I know he broke his hand, but that didn't stop Uriah from being an F*ing stud throwing elbows like they were going out of style!